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Last Sunday I went to HH Gregg to look for a new Smart TV. They had quite an assortment, but most of them were a little over my budget. As I thanked the clerk for spending time with me, he says, "Hold on a minute" and asked if I'd be interested in an "open box" TV. He showed me a 51" Samsung 3D Plasma Smart TV. I told him that I wasn't really interested in 3D. But he gave me a price that I absolutely could not refuse.

I figured that the 3D function would get little to no use as it didn't really interest me. But today, that all changed. I watched the Ohio/Penn St. game on ESPN 3D and it was amazing, even though it felt weird sitting here with 3D glasses on.

I don't think that there's a huge future for 3D. But, if there is, I'm ready for it. I'm hoping that a few more channels will be added, but I won't hold my breath.

Directv 3D is a moot point for me unless DTV revisits their HR20 inability to provide it. BD is a much better media anyway and I get all of my 3D fix from my BD player. I'm not willing to give up my HR20 because it has off-air capabilities and I have a backlog of shows & movies on disk that I'd be unable to play otherwise.

Passive is definitely better and more manufactures are offering it in their sets.

The HR20s just don't have the capability to do 3D, I still have 2 of them and they're great but I have to use a 21 and a 24 for the HD channels. Funny thing is that with Whole Home you can use a receiver to have 3D record on an HR 20 and it does record it but in order to watch it remotely you need to use a newer model.

Directv 3D is a moot point for me unless DTV revisits their HR20 inability to provide it. BD is a much better media anyway and I get all of my 3D fix from my BD player. I'm not willing to give up my HR20 because it has off-air capabilities and I have a backlog of shows & movies on disk that I'd be unable to play otherwise.

Passive is definitely better and more manufactures are offering it in their sets.

They'll add 3d support about when they add whole home to the H20. You can get something like an H25 (or H24 if no SWM) and use it as a kind of front end to the HR20. I did that for a while.

They'll add 3d support about when they add whole home to the H20. You can get something like an H25 (or H24 if no SWM) and use it as a kind of front end to the HR20. I did that for a while.

I'm counting on that!

Seriously however, I really don't care since, even if DTV 3D were available, I'd still use BD exclusively for my 3D viewing content. It's full HD 3D and it's Blu-Ray. I have way too many movies on my HR20 to give it up, and I'm pretty happy with its performance otherwise. I can get OTA without a box add-on, too.

3D does have a future. Life is in 3D... years from now we'll have wall sized displays that are glasses free 3D. There are more things to be discovered than things that have so far been discovered. Other display technologies no one has even pictured yet.

But yeah, it's weird sitting and watching with glasses on and the light loss is frustrating, but the depth on some of the shots even on just a 60" set is very cool.

Directv 3D is a moot point for me unless DTV revisits their HR20 inability to provide it. BD is a much better media anyway and I get all of my 3D fix from my BD player. I'm not willing to give up my HR20 because it has off-air capabilities and I have a backlog of shows & movies on disk that I'd be unable to play otherwise.

Passive is definitely better and more manufactures are offering it in their sets.

If you call DirecTV and tell them you have 3D TV they will provide a 3d capable receiver AND an AM21 OTA box at no charge and with no contract change (at least they have done so in the past). When I got my set last year I watched 1 3D show than sold the 3 free pair of glasses and the 3D Avatar DVD that came with it for almost enough to pay for 1/2 of the TV.

I've had my 3D TV for almost a year, and I've found that 3D has very little appeal to me.

First, only limited types of content, to me, provide for an enhanced viewing experience in 3D. You almost need to have programming that includes lots of times when things are "jumping out of the screen toward you" to make the 3D experience something special. When I've watched the programming on the channels that DIRECTV provides, I generally find nothing in the programming content or the way in which it was produced that makes showing it in 3D something "special".

Also, I've tried watching a number of the ESPN simulcast games, including last year's national championship football game in 3D. Every time I've started to watch one of those games in 3D, I've ended up switching over to the 2D version within about 10 minutes. Sports, to me, doesn't translate well into 3D. Most of the the 3D sports that I've tried to watch almost comes across like cartoonish cardboard cutouts.

Then, there is the issue of the glasses. Not only do I feel uncomfortable wearing them, and the light loss, to me, reduces the quality of the picture on the screen, but, even with glasses, unless you are sitting in a limited area in relation to the screen, the 3D effects are somewhat diminished.

I have no question that 3D TVs will play a bigger role in the future, but the technology has a long way to go before it would be something that I'd have more than minimal interest in viewing.

Haven't watched it yet but I just got the Avengers yesterday...$37 for a 3D bluray regular bluray DVD and digital copy.

Man, you need to shop around, you got ripped off. I got the same thing for $20 from Amazon. Looks like it's bumped up to $30 now, but still quite a bit less than the $37 you paid. Unless you got some collectors edition that I don't know about.

Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
-by Jack Handy

If you call DirecTV and tell them you have 3D TV they will provide a 3d capable receiver AND an AM21 OTA box at no charge and with no contract change (at least they have done so in the past). When I got my set last year I watched 1 3D show than sold the 3 free pair of glasses and the 3D Avatar DVD that came with it for almost enough to pay for 1/2 of the TV.

Also I saw in the latest tech notes that both the HR20-100s and -700s are on the "non-recover" list which means you may keep them after the free upgrade.

DIRECTV doesn't want them back, though you will have to keep them activated on your account to watch the recorded shows on them of course.

Man, you need to shop around, you got ripped off. I got the same thing for $20 from Amazon. Looks like it's bumped up to $30 now, but still quite a bit less than the $37 you paid. Unless you got some collectors edition that I don't know about.